The Art of Hospitality
by soraboo
Summary: After the death of their parents in a tragic boating accident, brothers Squall and Sora Leonhart move to Traverse Town for a fresh start. Years later, Leon manages the Oathkeeper Inn while Sora works the front desk to save money for school. Then Riku Masamune books a room, his eye on buying the dying property for his own business startup, and he refuses to take no for an answer.
1. VIP

**Chapter 1 – VIP**

The lobby was packed when Sora ran in, diving through the luggage cart and rolling back onto his feet without losing his stride. He spun like a ballerina to avoid a baby stroller and ducked under the arm of a business man handing over his keys, sliding toward the door to the lower level stairs like he was playing baseball.

"Hi, Sora!" Naminé called cheerfully from behind the desk.

Sora scrambled onto his feet and yanked the door open, "Hi, Naminé!"

It was a short but breathless run down the single flight of stairs and down the hallway to the locker room. Sora jammed his thumb against the scanner, sighing in relief when it beeped him in and flinching when the screen flashed 7:10.

He was late. Which, admittedly, wasn't that unusual, but he always felt like a real tool being late to work on Friday mornings. Weekends were the busiest at the hotel and leaving Naminé to deal with that many people so early in the morning was probably a third-degree crime.

He reached up to fix his tie, which had been fluttering behind him on either side of his neck like a thin banner, trading out the damp jacket he'd been wearing for a fresh one from his locker. His dress shirt was also sticking to his skin, but he didn't have a spare of that. His spiky hair was something he didn't bother with, even on a good morning. People asked him why he didn't brush it even when he _did_.

There hadn't even been a dent in the long line of guests by the time he made his way up to the desk. Naminé smiled at him as he passed her and logged into the other computer, his desktop wallpaper making him smile. Destiny Islands at sunset was something that he hadn't seen in years, but he still found it soothing no matter how stressful a day he was having.

"Hey, kid. Can you stop playing Solitaire for half a second and _check me out_ please?"

Sora's smile dimmed a little as he dragged his eyes off the screen to meet the irate gaze of the balding middle aged man in front of him. Then it flickered back to life in a reflex that spoke of long experience. "Ah—sorry, sir. Just give me a moment to log in and I'll take care of you right away."

He exchanged a long look with Naminé out of the corner of his eye and hurried to pull up the guest logs before total anarchy broke out.

The faces blurred together as Sora repeated the same mindless task he did five days a week, eight hours a day—checking out guests, tagging their luggage, directing them to the breakfast room, and so on and so forth. A family of four checked thirteen bags that Sora cheerfully reassured them he could handle before grabbing the nearest walky-talky and begging Lexaeus to come down and give him a hand. The coffee area ran out of hot water, forcing Sora to drag Paine away from the game of Fruit Ninja she was playing on her phone in the kitchen to replace it. A very large woman with a Neverland accent complained about finding bed bugs in her mattress for twelve minutes before Aerith came out of the back office to calmly poke holes in her story by asking why she had slept on the mattress anyway.

That was the only thing that Sora loved about the morning shift. All of the mishaps seemed to take seconds to resolve, but a glance at the clock told him that he had already been at work for two hours.

"Geez," Sora said, stretching his arms over his head with a wide yawn. He dropped them and gave Naminé an apologetic look. "Sorry I was late. I slept through both my alarms again."

Naminé stopped doodling on a piece of scratch paper long enough to wave a dismissive hand in his direction. "It's all right. I know you had that huge group presentation to prepare for and everything. How did that go, by the way?"

Sora thought back to the night before. He'd put off his part of the group presentation until the last minute, as usual, and had gotten all of his things together for an all nighter. A pot of coffee. Two energy drinks, just in case. A custom-built playlist on his iPod. He'd even shut the wireless off on his laptop so there would be no distractions.

But about five minutes after he'd finished decorating his slides, he'd realized that he couldn't exactly summarize the economical issues faced by Agrabah in the modern century if he didn't actually know anything about the economical issues faced by Agrabah in the modern century. So he'd turned his wireless back on, only to decide, about midway through Agrabah's Wikipedia page, that he had done enough work to merit sparing ten minutes to check Kairi's Facebook page. Then he'd seen that Selphie had tagged a picture of him passed out and drooling on a table in the student union. He'd left thirteen angry comments telling her to take it down before she had messaged him on Facebook chat telling him to "come to my dorm and say that to my face, bitch :)". Smiley face included.

The next thing Sora remembered was Squall waking him up and asking him why he wasn't at work because Squall was crazy and rolled out of bed before dawn even though _he_ didn't have to be at work until after nine.

"It…" Sora said slowly, blinking back to the present. "It's a work in progress. Heh. I'm sure everyone will understand…"

He was saved from further comment when the lobby doors opened and Squall strode in, carrying a tray with two steaming cups of coffee in it. He set one on the desk in front of Sora, who accepted it with a pleased sigh that was almost a moan, and set a blueberry muffin in front of Naminé.

"You're the best kind of person," Sora said, reminding himself to take small sips instead of inhaling the scalding hot beverage like every fiber of his exhausted body was begging him to do. Four sugars, three creamers, and whipped cream on top drizzled with caramel – just the way he liked it. Squall was the _best_ kind of person.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Leonhart," Naminé said, ducking her head in a shy little bow before taking the muffin to the back to eat it.

Sora felt Squall's eyes on him and stopped dancing a mental jig in celebration of his coffee long enough to meet his brother's gaze. It never failed to surprise him, how professional and sort of scary Squall looked in his well-tailored suit with half a bottle of gel taming his hair. People always told Sora that they were surprised he and Squall were related, given their drastic differences in personality, and it was at times like this that Sora could maybe kind of see it. The intimidation factor. But then, he'd seen Squall puke up his guts from too many hours at Cid's and laugh at stupid YouTube videos until he cried. So. Yeah. Not so intimidating.

"Yeees?" asked Sora once the silence went from expectant to annoying. "Do you want me to pay you back for the coffee or something? Because you pay me, so you may as well just take it out of my check."

Squall smiled. "Have you seen how much your textbooks cost us this semester? You need to cling to every bit of munny you get."

Sora tried not to cringe. If he'd gotten a full scholarship or just gone to community college, munny wouldn't be so tight in the Leonhart home. Just because Traverse Town University had the best International Relations program in, well, the _world_ didn't mean that it had been the right choice for Sora. And yet, once Squall had found the brochure in Sora's room—buried in his dirty laundry for some reason—he'd refused to entertain the idea of Sora going anywhere else. He'd even started working weekends just to make sure that Sora could request as many days off from the hotel as he needed to in order to make the best of his education.

And Sora paid him back by being late.

His coffee suddenly tasted like mud in his mouth. On today of all days, he didn't deserve it.

"Hey, quit it," said Squall, rapping his knuckles against Sora's forehead. "I've got the monopoly on brooding around here. You should be thinking about dessert and women and how to combine the two. Or whatever it is university kids think about these days."

"Tuition bills and how to eat lots of junk food without getting fat actually," Sora corrected. Then he paused, a wry grin blooming on his face. "Okay, _and_ sex. But I'm not, uh—"

Squall held up a hand. "We're not having this conversation in the middle of my lobby. Get to work, Sora."

He disappeared down the stairs to the lower level, leaving Sora to finish what was left of his coffee in the least brooding manner he could. Squall had a point. Sora was a cheerful person by nature, but ever since their parents had died he had felt like it was almost his responsibility to keep Squall smiling. Maybe not in high spirits, but at least content. Sora didn't kid himself into thinking that making his brother laugh would be enough to get him to stop blaming himself for their parents' deaths, but it didn't _hurt._

Besides, if Sora started wasting his time thinking about all the things he'd done wrong, he'd miss all of his chances to do something right. Brooding about the past was totally counterintuitive.

Naminé returned as he was throwing out his coffee cup, deep in discussion with Axel. Or, rather, Axel was talking and Naminé was listening—which was a pretty accurate description of how all conversation tended to go around Axel. That was part of what made him such a good front office manager. While guests might be perfectly willing to yell at the frail-looking Naminé or the overenthusiastic Sora, it took a brave one indeed to start something with a guy whose hair looked like an open fire and who had facial tattoos that he claimed were absolutely not indicators that he had ever run with a gang.

_Ha._ Like Sora believed that.

"Keep staring like that and I'll start to think you've got a crush, doe-eyes," drawled Axel, pulling Sora out of his thoughts.

He huffed. "We are one step closer to that sexual harassment lawsuit."

"And I keep telling you that you're just not my type." Axel paused to look around, eyes catching on the empty cup Sora had just thrown out. "You're always so much feistier when you've had your morning coffee. I'm guessing that means Leon's here?"

"Oh!" said Naminé, who had never felt bothered or even vaguely threatened by Axel's presence before. In fact, she had a higher tolerance for his shenanigans than anyone else on the staff, besides Roxas. And even Roxas told Axel to shut up every now and then. "Yes, I'm sorry. I completely forgot to mention it. He's the one who gave me that muffin."

Axel glanced at the lower level door as though expecting Squall to come bursting up any second, then leaned forward conspiratorially. "You two heard about the VIP guest coming in today?"

"Yes," said Naminé at the same time Sora was saying, "No." They looked at one another, amused, before turning their attention back to Axel. The VIPs were always listed on the whiteboard in the back, but Sora never remembered to check it. All VIP meant for him was that someone was paying a lot of money to treat him like their bitch for the length of their stay.

"Why does that not surprise me?" Axel looked at Sora in a very put-upon manner, even though Sora knew from years of familiarity that he was loving the opportunity to impart his so-called wisdom. Sora didn't mind the show. He played his role, pulling up a nearby box to sit on and gazing up (and up) at Axel in rapt attention. Satisfied, Axel went on. "He's a hotshot from Destiny Islands. Well, he was born there, but he's been going to university in Radiant Garden. Just graduated in May and get this – he bought out a suite for the whole month."

Sora gasped. "The whole month?"

"Yeah. And you should see the rate this guy was willing to pay. I swear, Zexion was about ready to piss himself."

"Is he a celebrity?" Naminé asked, perching on the other side of the box behind Sora. He shifted to make room, still gaping at Axel. "Would we know who he is?"

"We?" said Sora, twisting around to look at her. "Why would I know him?"

"Well, you grew up in Destiny Islands, too. He can't be much older than us if he only just graduated university."

It made sense from her point of view, Sora supposed, but he still doubted it. He had only lived in Destiny Islands up until he was seven before the accident had happened and he and Squall had moved to Traverse Town. Sora could barely remember much about his life then, just in brief flashes of swimming with his friends, going boating with his parents, and wasting hours hanging out at Naminé and Kairi's house. She was the only friend he'd managed to hang onto all these years. Naminé would be more likely to know about big shots from the Islands than Sora would. She'd only left it for the first time three years ago to go to Traverse Town University with him.

"I doubt either of you would know him," Axel said, putting the theory to rest with easy decisiveness. "He's not famous in the sense that he's a model or an actor or anything public like that. He's just from a wealthy family, that's all. His brother's more famous than he is, but even if I said his name you probably wouldn't make the connection. Honestly, you kids. If it ain't about you, you don't bother to learn about it."

"Hey!" Sora hopped to his feet to argue with that sweeping generalization, but Axel's patronizing smirk and the sound of Naminé's giggles stopped him short as he realized he had done exactly what Axel had been expecting him to do. Half the fun of being a dick all the time, Axel had told him once, was riling people up.

"You're so easy." Axel grinned one more time and then turned around. "Now you two behave. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. Come to think of it, don't do anything I would do either."

He waggled his fingers in a sarcastic wave, gave Naminé a genuine smile, and then sauntered over to the stairway and disappeared.

Sora chuckled, amused despite himself. But that was the Axel Enten Effect. Like him or hate him, the guy had charisma.

He helped Naminé up and pushed the box back to the corner before bringing his computer out of sleep mode so he could go through the guest files. VIPs got a little symbol next to their name and today there was only one. Riku Masamune. He had a Radiant Garden address, a twenty-six night stay, and a completely blank Guest Requests section. The name didn't ring any bells with Sora at all, even the supposedly famous last name. He wanted to get on Facebook and ask Kairi if she knew anything about this, but the likelihood that she'd be online at this time of morning was low. Mornings were when her grandmother needed the most help.

"Excuse me," said a voice that Sora didn't recognize.

He snapped to attention, realizing that there was a man standing in front of him tugging a single silver suitcase behind him. He was tall – almost as tall as Axel – forcing Sora to tilt his head back a bit in order to meet his gaze. His hair was short and silver, which struck Sora more so than his sea green eyes, mostly because he'd never met someone with silver hair before. And he'd seen – and sported – a lot of weird hairstyles.

"Is that your natural hair color?" Sora blurted before he could stop himself. He smacked himself on the forehead. "Wow, I'm sorry. What I meant was—Welcome to the Oathkeeper Inn. How may I help you, sir?"

The man's lips twitched upward briefly as though they wanted to be amused but couldn't quite get there. "It's a really light blonde."

"What?"

"My hair color." He shook his head, causing his hair to fly around his head before settling perfectly back into place like a goddamn shampoo commercial. "I like to think it's a really light blond."

"Silver isn't a shade of blond," Sora pointed out. He shook his own head, but he was pretty sure his spikes didn't move very much at all. And if they did, they certainly didn't fall back into the same order, if the way the man started laughing was any indication. He grinned, pleased to have turned what might have been a potentially horrifying moment into something positive. "Anyway, are you checking in?"

"Ah, yes," the man said, still chuckling a little. "But I know I'm early, so first I'd like to speak to the owner of the building. If he's in."

"Oh, sure, Squall's right downstairs. Who may I say is calling?" asked Sora, already picking up the phone and dialing his extension. "And what may I say it's about?"

"My name is Riku Masamune."

Sora nearly dropped the phone.

He stifled the urge to groan at his own stupidity. Of course he'd asked their VIP guest if that was his natural hair color. Of all the guests, of course Sora would pick the VIP to lose his brain-mouth filter on. It wasn't enough for Sora to put his foot in his mouth, no. He had to do it as spectacularly as possible.

Oblivious to Sora's internal crisis, Riku Masamune plucked one of the hotel's business cards from the display, eyed it briefly, and pocketed it before pinning Sora with those deep green eyes again. "You can tell Mr. Leonhart that I'd like to discuss buying this property."

* * *

"…and then he was like _I'm Riku Masamune and I want to buy your hotel, take me to your leader_ and Squall was like _oh, cool, send him down here _and it's been hours and he's still not back up here yet!" Sora finished with a huge inhale, his eagerness to tell the story having overridden his biological need to breathe.

He was taking his thirty-minute break in the back office, eating the leftover food Paine had left aside for him from breakfast and catching Aerith up on what she'd missed by being buried in all the paperwork Axel had abandoned. Aerith and Axel made a great management team—Axel was charismatic and scary and Aerith was maternal and actually responsible—but most of the time Sora could tell Aerith was really getting the short end of the stick. And yet she never complained. Sora would have been on Axel's ass about it, but Aerith was neither shy nor weak-willed and would have done it herself if she was really bothered. He just let her do as she pleased.

"Hm. Well, admittedly, it's not exactly a surprise that someone wants to buy the building," she said at last, bringing a hand to her chin in thought. "I doubt he actually wants to take over the hotel. It's been consistently in the red for a few months now."

This was news to Sora. There were always so many people checking in and out of the hotel and Roxas often complained about people stumbling in at three in the morning looking for rooms they didn't have available. Considering what they charged for a night's stay at the Oathkeeper, Sora had no idea how the hotel could possibly be "in the red".

Maybe she was talking about the new red carpets? Marluxia had fought to get those for months, going on about how many different stains were complimentary to the color and how it would give the lobby a bit more life. And he'd been right, as far as Sora could tell.

"In the red?" he echoed, eyebrows drawing together. "I don't understand."

Aerith's hand dropped to toy with the foil wrapping of her sandwich, a sigh escaping her lips. "We're not making budget. There's an amount of money the hotel is supposed to make every month in order to turn a profit and we've been falling short of that amount since roughly last February. We were 50,000 munny short last month, for example."

Sora's eyes widened. He'd never even _seen_ that much munny before. If the hotel was making enough to only fall 50,000 munny short of a budget, he had no idea how they could be _in the red_. How much could it possibly cost to keep a hotel running?

"The truth is, Traverse Town is exactly what its name implies – it's a place you travel _through_ not a place you travel _to_. It doesn't have very much in the way of tourist attractions and its biggest selling point is that it's easy to travel to almost any other city from here—and the Oathkeeper is cheaper than the hotels in those cities." Aerith waved vaguely toward the window, which overlooked the courtyard. "There's a reason we're the only hotel in the town, Sora. Traverse Town doesn't _need_ one."

"That's not true!" Sora blurted out. Though he knew Aerith didn't mean it that way, he couldn't help but take the attack against his brother's hotel as an attack against his brother. Squall had been the general manager of the Oathkeeper for almost three years now and just because it was going through a rough patch didn't mean that his business was an unnecessary one.

But then again, Sora wasn't a Business major. And being under budget for months didn't exactly good…

"I just…" he continued more softly, now staring at the ground. "I mean, I guess I understand that. If the hotel is losing money, then it would make sense for Squall to sell, right? If this Masamune guy makes him a good deal… But then what would happen to you guys?"

Aerith looked troubled. "That's my main concern. I can't imagine telling… well, Mrs. Potts, for example, that she's out of her job. She's been saving up to send Chip to a good boarding school in Twilight Town."

"Oh, yeah…"

Even worse, Sora thought, was the fact that it wouldn't be Aerith's job to tell her. That honor would go to the Housekeeping manager. Marluxia lacked the sort of empathy and, ah, common human decency that Aerith had in spades. He'd probably just write all the housekeepers a curt email and deactivate their master keys while they weren't looking.

He sank back down in his seat and stuffed the last of his bacon in his mouth, chewing restlessly. He wished he could have been down in Squall's office, listening to what Riku Masamune had to say. What was taking so long anyway? Mr. Masamune had gone downstairs empty handed, so he couldn't very well be giving a presentation down there.

Sora pulled his phone out of his pocket to see if Squall had at least texted him to save him from some of this suspense, but the only message he had was from a group chat between himself, Tidus and Wakka. They were trying to settle on a time to meet to work on the project Sora was still trying not to think about. He discreetly shut off his phone.

"Well," he said, sure about one thing if not anything else. "Whatever Squall decides, I'll support him."

"And I as well," said Aerith with a warm smile. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, your break is almost over."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sora grinned as he hopped to his feet. "It's impossible to distract you, you know that?"

He hurried down the stairs to clock back in, but only so he could leave the locker room and creep down the hallway toward Squall's office. It was useless, he knew. Squall's office was soundproof, had tinted windows, and required a key code to get in. Sora knew the key code, but using it would sort of defeat the purpose of being stealthy. He pressed his back against the wall by the glass pane, struggling to see some hint of what was going on inside.

All he could see were the vague silhouettes of three figures inside. One, he knew was his brother's. One, of course, was Riku Masamune. The last, Sora could only assume, was Axel, who had been lucky enough to be at the scene of the action when the action had begun. Fucking Axel. The only way Sora would get any real information out of him was if he acted as if he didn't want it and Sora had never been very good at lying.

Defeated for the moment, he headed back upstairs.

* * *

Sora was waiting for Naminé to change so they could leave when Squall finally showed up in the lobby. His hair was kind of a mess, the obvious result of running his fingers through it too many times, and he'd ditched his tie, making his neck look oddly bare. He was also pinching the bridge of his nose with two fingers, a common habit of his from as far back as Sora could remember.

Sora dug around the back of the toiletries cabinet until he found the bottle of aspirin and grabbed a bottle of water, bringing them both over to Squall. He tried hard to look wide-eyed and unassuming.

"Long day?" he asked, with the guileless, open affection of a little brother whose only great concern in this world was his older brother's health and happiness.

Squall didn't buy it for a second. "I said no. I'm not selling the Oathkeeper to him or anyone else. Thank you." The latter was said with exhausted affection as he took one of the pills and washed it down with half the water bottle. "He said he'll be here for at least twenty-six days to get me to change my mind. At _least_? Who does that guy even think he is?"

"Riku Masamune is the youngest son of the Masamune family of Destiny Islands. You oughta know this, Leon, considering you were born there," Axel said, coming up behind them with more silent grace than a man who was well over six feet tall should possess. "Then again, I guess the Masamune's kinda became a real thing after you'd left, huh?"

Squall was getting that kicked puppy look – which on Squall looked more like a constipated wolf look – so Sora rushed to move on from that glaring sore spot of their past.

"What are the Masamunes famous for? You didn't tell us earlier."

Axel grinned, practically humming with energy now that he had Sora's full attention again. "Being really fucking rich, obviously. They bought one whole island from themselves and that's where they all live. But here's the real kicker. The eldest son, Sephiroth, invented the Gummi. His net worth alone is in the billions."

Sora gasped. Gummi was a revolutionary new material that had been discovered a couple years earlier. Its main use had gone to transportation. It was malleable yet firm, flame-proof and nigh-indestructible, and cars that were made from Gummi Corp were faster, safer, and more environmentally-conservative than any other cars on the market. In their first year, Gummi Corp had gained such a stranglehold on the transportation industry that almost all the other companies had gone right out of business.

"He wants to open a Gummi factory? Here? At our hotel?" asked Sora, his eyes still wide as saucers.

Squall was pinching the bridge of his nose again. "Not exactly. Apparently the kid's looking to start up an entirely new business and he thinks this building would be an excellent location for the main offices. He didn't mention Gummi Corp even once the whole time. I had no idea he was _that _Masamune."

"He was weirdly dodgy about exactly what kind of business he's planning on starting," said Axel with a shrug. "But he showed us a lot of pretty graphs that looked a lot like a university student would make for their final project."

"Well, he can't be much older than Sora. Didn't you say he just got out of school? He probably _did_ just pitch us his final project. Only a Masamune could afford to have steel balls like that."

He'd be here for twenty-six days, Sora remembered all of a sudden, allowing Squall and Axel's chatter to fade into the background as he thought about all this. Either he was really cocky or he was really passionate about his idea. Or maybe it was even both.

"Listen," Squall said suddenly, fixing his attention on Sora. "This guy seems like he might make trouble. Be on your guard, okay? I'm going to pull everybody into a meeting about it, but I want you especially to be careful."

"Me especially?" Sora blinked. "Why?"

"Because you're my kid brother, that's why."

"And because if a serial killer walked in here dragging the bloody body behind him by the hair, you'd say _I'm sure you had a good reason for doing what you did, let me help you with that heavy corpse and you can tell me all about it_," said Axel, his imitation of Sora's voice unnecessarily high-pitched and whiny. "So don't start weaving this guy friendship bracelets and seeing the good inside his heart and blah, blah, blah."

Sora didn't know whether to be offended or… offended. "Are you going to give this speech to Naminé and Aerith, too?"

"Nah, they don't need it." Axel ruffled his hair, laughing when Sora shook him off and tried to bite him. "Listen, kid, I'm not trying to insult you. There's nothing wrong with seeing the good in people. Just don't focus so hard on the good that you can't see the bad. Got it memorized?"

Sora looked from Axel's haughty yet affectionate face to Squall's quieter but more concerned expression and felt the fight drain right out of him. It wasn't like Axel was wrong. He did tend to see the good in people if there was any good to see. He had a weakness for redeeming qualities and everyone knew it.

"Yeah, okay," Sora murmured. "I'll be careful."

Naminé stepped out of the elevator, adjusting the straps of her teddy bear backpack, and smiled at all three of them. "Ready to go, Sora? If we leave now, we'll still have plenty of time on the walk to the university to come up with an excuse for why you didn't do your part of your project."

Sora cringed, buttoning up the rest of his jacket and waving at Yuna and Rikku as he left. He had more important things to worry about right now than big business.


	2. Reunion

**Chapter 2 – Reunion**

Sora had the next two days off from work, which meant he spent the next two days at the university in a zombie-like haze. Tidus and Wakka had, predictably, kicked his ass about not having his part of the project done, which meant he'd been trapped in the library for so long he was almost positive a small piece of him had died in there. By the time he'd taken the tram back home, it was the middle of the night and he'd fallen into bed with all of his clothes still on. It was only coffee and miracles that got Sora through the same exact thing the next day.

"Riku Masamune's staying at your hotel?" Kairi squealed so close to the phone that Sora could see nothing but her mouth. "Would it be weird to ask him for an autograph? Weird, right? I mean, he's a socialite…"

"I'm not going to ask one of our guests for an autograph, Kairi," said Sora, rolling his eyes good-naturedly as he washed the dishes. Kairi was on FaceTime, which meant that she could see him do it in the frame right now, but it wasn't bothering her in the slightest from the way she kept carrying on.

"There was a piece in the news about him when he left the island to go to Radiant Garden. A bigger piece when his brother founded Gummi Corp, obviously, but I remember seeing a picture of Riku Masamune in the paper."

"Does he dye his hair?"

"I know, right? But no, actually, his entire family just has hair that color. Grandma joked that they were trying to jack her swag. I swear, I need to get a filter on the music video channels…"

The somber reminder of why Kairi wasn't in the kitchen with him, drying while he washed, made Sora's obligatory chuckles feel a little false. Kairi's grandmother was doing a lot better now than she had been when Kairi had made the decision to go to the local university so she could stay and take care of her, but she still had her rough days. Kairi was taking care of her, but Sora wished so much that he was back on Destiny Islands to take care of Kairi.

"I really miss you, Sora," said Kairi, as if she'd read his mind. Sora wiped his damp hands on his pants and picked up the phone, meeting her half-smile with one of his own. Then he stuck out his tongue.

"You call that a smile? Come on, Kairi. I'm coming to visit next month! The least you could do is give me a real smile so I don't book a flight out there right now. Unless that's your master plan."

Kairi laughed and if it sounded a little shaky, neither of them mentioned it. "You're such a goof, Sora. You can really come next month?"

"I've been saving up! Either I'm going down there or you're coming up here," he promised. "We'll see each other soon. In the meantime, who's this guy leaving comments all over your Wall? Have you got a secret boyfriend?"

As always, Kairi was easily distracted by her squeaky denials of any such thing and the conversation ended on a much lighter note. Sora had homework to get to and Kairi had to watch TV with her grandmother and saying goodbye hurt a little bit less than usual now that he had something to look forward to.

Of course, that was when Squall shuffled into the room with a stack of papers in his arms, the sight of him reminding Sora that he maybe needed to ask permission for these kinds of things.

Squall was in work mode, his hair drawn back into a small ponytail, and a pair of reading glasses low on his nose. He was wearing a shirt that Sora was pretty sure was his, at least in the sense that he'd stolen it from Squall's closet years ago, and a pair of pajamas that made it clear he wasn't planning on leaving the house at all if he could help it. It was rare for Sora and Squall to have the same day off – rare for Squall to take a day off that didn't end in him running across the courtyard to the hotel to personally solve some problem or other – so Sora wanted to savor it.

He brought his homework to the kitchen and pulled out the chair at the opposite side of the table, grinning when Squall glanced up inquisitively. He got the ghost of a smile in return before Squall returned to the large stack of papers he'd laid out on his side.

"What are those?" Sora asked, eyeing his foreign politics textbook as if it was going to bite him. "Are you finally ordering us those new uniforms I showed you? Red is the new blue, you know."

Squall snorted. "Actually, these are resumes. "We need to hire a new chef, but I kind of just want to pass the job on to Aerith and call it a day."

Foreign politics didn't have a chance at holding his interest in the face of that.

"Wait—new cook? Did Paine quit?"

Sure, Paine seemed to care less about her job and more about leaving the best morning pastries hidden in the kitchen for Rikku to munch on during her afternoon shifts, but Sora had always figured that Rikku would have to quit before Paine agreed to be separated from her.

"No. And, calm down, she hasn't been fired either." Sora's mouth closed with a snap and he grinned sheepishly as Squall continued. "It's Masamune. He's – his decision to stay here wasn't a private one. And his presence at the hotel was like the best recommendation we could have gotten. People are flocking here either to catch a glimpse of him or to see what about us made him decide to stay here. We're sold out for the next few weeks at least."

Sora could feel his eyes widening to the size of potholes. He wondered if maybe Axel had lied to him. It wouldn't be the first time, after all. Maybe Riku Masamune was a prince or movie star or maybe even a model. Who would get so excited about a socialite? Especially one who was more famous for what his brother had done than anything he'd done himself?

"Yeah," Squall said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm not fond of the guy, but he's definitely doing a lot more for the hotel than the actual hotel has been able to do. Which is counterproductive to his plot to buy us out."

"Maybe it's because he's not plotting anything?"

"A Business major? Not plotting anything? Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it."

Sora rolled his eyes and went back to his homework.

He made sure to get all the way through it and check it once before he interrupted Squall again. If there was one thing Squall had always been adamant about, it was that Sora get the best education that he could. That mostly meant being really anal retentive about Sora's homework to the point that Sora considered even his strictest teacher to be more relaxed about his right or wrong answers than Squall was. Not that he minded. He didn't think he would have been able to get into university without the grades Squall helped him get. Sora was a pretty good student when he tried, but he was pretty lazy when it came to the trying part.

"So, I was thinking," he said, packing his books away neatly to have something to do with his hands. "I've been saving up and I've got enough money for a round-trip ticket to Destiny Islands."

The companionable silence they had been working in stretched thin with tension. Sora finished stacking his books and looked up from them, his jaw set with determination. Squall had his elbows up on the table, his chin resting on his steepled fingers, and he suddenly looked so much older than thirty-one. Sora refused to let that make him feel guilty.

"I'm not asking you to come with me," he said softly. "I just want to visit Kairi. I'll be gone a week at most and I promise I won't go near the water."

One of Squall's hands came up to cover his face. "Staying away from the water on Destiny Islands is going to be quite a task, Sora. Can't she come up to visit you again?"

"Kairi doesn't like to be away from her grandmother, so I thought I'd go visit her so we could spend more than just a weekend together. But if you'd rather her come here, we can do that."

"I'd prefer it." Squall's jaw worked as if he wanted to say something else, but then he sighed and went briskly back to his papers. "How about this? Tell me when you want to have her up and we'll give Naminé that week off. She can go home, stay with her grandmother, and Kairi can stay the week with us. We have the space."

It took a moment for the words to sink in. When they did, a smile split Sora's face in half and he couldn't resist the urge to leap around the table and pull Squall into a hug.

"That would be amazing! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't wait to tell Kairi!"

He moved to kiss Squall's cheek and laughed as Squall shoved him away before he could, making a melodramatic grumpy face to hide the fact that he was smiling.

"Best brother ever," he declared before running out of the room to call Kairi back.

* * *

By the time Sora went back in to work on Monday, he could see what Squall had been talking about. The lobby, which was usually pretty sparse even on a good day, was full to bursting with people when he wandered in – on time for once. Naminé was already logged in, helping Roxas manage the breakfast crowd, though most of the people just seemed to be lingering in the lobby as if waiting for something. Sora raised his eyebrows at Roxas, who rolled his eyes in response, confirming what Sora was beginning to suspect. They were waiting for Riku.

"For the love of," Sora muttered to himself as he headed downstairs to clock in.

Riku still hadn't come down by the time Sora returned, judging by the people still hanging around the desk in a futile attempt to extend their stays. He nudged Roxas away from his computer and signed him out, eyeing the lingering crowd with a frown. There wasn't really much they could do to protect Riku's privacy since the whole world already seemed to know exactly where he was and were willing to camp out here if it meant catching a glimpse of him, but Sora's sense of duty wouldn't let him do nothing. He picked up the phone and dialed Riku's number, waiting.

"…mmph?" This grunt of breath was followed by a yawn and some shuffling. "Speak."

"Is that really how you answer the phone?" Sora asked incredulously before realizing where he was and who he was talking to. "I mean, um, hello, sir. This is Sora Leonhart at the front desk. Sorry to wake you."

Riku's voice, when it came again, sounded amused. "Hello, Sora. Is something wrong?"

"Uh, kind of." He turned his back to the desk and walked as far away from the counter as he could, toying with the edge of the Manager on Duty plaque. "Pretty much everyone knows you're staying here. There are people camped out in the lobby waiting for you to come down, I think."

There was a long silence, so long that Sora began to worry that he'd overstepped his boundaries a little here.

"I mean, I'm sure you're totally used to that and I woke you up for absolutely no reason, but I just didn't want you to be caught unaware or something and I just figured on the off-chance you don't feel up to, um, an impromptu photo shoot, there's a back way out of the hotel?"

The silence dragged on for a few more minutes before Riku suddenly exhaled a rush of air so large it sounded like static.

"Okay," he said, his voice oddly small. "Thank you. Where's the back way out of the hotel?"

Sora fought the urge to smile. "If you go down the B stairs, they'll lead straight outside instead of down to the lobby. You can't get back in that way, but I'll see if I can explain the situation to the managers and make it so you can call the hotel and have someone come back there to let you in."

"Thank you. That's—really great service."

"Well, yeah," and now Sora actually was smiling. "That's an oath we promise to keep!"

"…is that really the motto of the hotel? Please tell me that's not really the motto of the hotel. Please tell me you're just the cheesiest person in the world."

"Hey."

Riku laughed. It was only the second time Sora had made him do so and yet even through the distance of the phone he could tell that it was a warm, happy sort of sound. People who laughed like that certainly couldn't plot the downfall of what was clearly a beloved business.

Just don't focus so hard on the good that you can't see the bad. Got it memorized?

The sudden echo of Axel's words made Sora's smile fade and he cleared his throat, slipping his professional voice back on again. "Anyway, I just wanted to ensure that you're enjoying your stay at our hotel. If there's anything else we can help you with, don't hesitate to call the Front Desk."

Riku sounded puzzled as they said their goodbyes, but Sora pushed that out of his mind. He saw Naminé watching him curiously out of the corner of her eye, but he didn't even look at her, didn't even look up at all until he heard Roxas call a goodbye to him on his way out.

The more people got tired of waiting and wandered out, the more people would wake up or wander in and start waiting in their place. Sora had no idea if Riku had just gone back to sleep after his phone call or if he'd already snuck out, but he couldn't help feeling sorry for the guy. He had honestly seemed like he was horrified by all of the attention. Sora wondered if it was possible for a Masamune to be shy.

Eventually, everyone began to get bored or distracted or just plain tired of standing, slowly trickling out of the lobby in various directions. As soon as the last of them were gone, Naminé collapsed atop the garbage can, running her fingers through her hair until it came loose from her ponytail.

"Poor Mr. Masamune," she said, shaking her head. "I can't imagine having people line up to stare at me like that. I'd be terrified."

Sora crept over to her side and pulled her hands away from her head, staring at her wide-eyed without blinking until she started laughing and pushed him away.

"Was that who you were on the phone with earlier? I saw you smiling."

"I—I've been on the phone with a lot of people today." Sora drifted back to his side of the desk, ordering the pens in his holder as though that would help him avoid the question. "I've been texting Kairi all day, too. I'm going to need a specific time frame for—"

"You did call him!" Naminé said, sounding, for some reason, delighted. "Is he enjoying his stay?"

Sora was saved from answering by the arrival of a face so familiar that his breath caught. The person standing in front of the double doors had shorter hair than he'd had the last time Sora saw him, but his eyes were the same pensive blue and the barely-there curve of his lips reminded Sora of warm family breakfasts and an even warmer sense of pride in someone else's ability to see the all the good his brother tried to pretend he didn't have.

Cloud Strife approached the desk, his brows lifting in recognition when he saw Sora. His vague smile blossomed into a fond one.

"Hey, you," he said, hand lifting in an aborted motion. Sora was already ducking his head in anticipation of having his hair ruffled, but Cloud just ran his fingers through his own hair instead. "I'm here to see Aerith. I mean, Ms. Gainsborough."

The awkward attempts at informality cut Sora a little deeper than he was willing to admit, but he understood. It took him a moment to work his lips back into a smile.

"I'll let her know you're here," he said with false cheer. "You can have a seat anywhere."

He disappeared into the back with immediate relief, wondering if he should warn Squall that Cloud was here, wondering if Squall already knew. Axel was, shockingly enough, actually at his desk for once, buried in a list of blocked rooms, while Aerith was just hanging up the phone at her own desk, a pen behind her ear and a paper in her hand.

She scribbled on it before glancing up and smiling when she saw Sora there. "Going on your break?"

"Ah, no. It's… Cloud's here? To see you?" Sora didn't mean for it to sound so uncertain, but it had been over a year since he had last seen Cloud and, now that he had gotten over his initial shock and joy, he was incredibly puzzled. Aerith and Tifa had both stayed in Traverse Town, so he knew it stood to reason that Cloud must have come back to visit them every now and again, but Sora had never seen him. Squall had never seen him. And he'd never contacted either of them.

"Oh," said Aerith and she looked mildly sheepish. The fact that Axel had suddenly looked up from his computer with a hawk-eyed curiosity didn't help. "Maybe you should close the door a moment."

Sora stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, leaning back against it with his arms behind his back. His fingers were clenching and unclenching nervously. The heavy door between him and the lobby was too much. He felt so removed from the situation. And what if Squall decided to come up into the sunlight and saw Cloud there without Sora there to shield him from himself?

"Cloud is here to interview for the position of fulltime chef," Aerith said, turning her chair enough to face both Sora and Axel. "Obviously, I've got other options lined up, but he's got the best recommendations. He's worked as a sous-chef at Olympus and was the personal chef to the king of Disney Castle before coming here. He's, quite frankly, overqualified."

"Isn't this a huge conflict of interest?" Axel asked, leaning back in his chair with his arms behind his head. He looked thrilled. "I mean, if the guy quit cooking for a king to come to this shithole, it's clear what hole he's after."

"Axel!" Sora and Aerith cried simultaneously.

"What?" Axel shrugged. "It's not like we're a five star hotel. You don't leave a job at a castle to come work at an inn. He wants to stick his hand back in Leon's cookie jar. We can't hire him."

"He's the best applicant we've got!" Aerith argued, cheeks still pink. "This is the perfect time to use the sudden press to utterly revolutionize the Oathkeeper's image."

"How's it gonna help the Oathkeeper's image to have Leon put his ex-boyfriend and – let's not even pretend we don't know where this shit is going – future fuck buddy on the payroll, huh? There's playing favorites and then there's sheer stupidity." Axel turned back to his computer with an air of finality. "Leon's not gonna want him here and if Leon does want him here that's twice the reason not to hire him."

Aerith seemed to deflate, her lower lip drawn into her mouth and her eyebrows knitted together in thought or sadness. Sora could feel Cloud's interview disappearing like smoke before he'd even gotten the chance to build the flame. He couldn't let that happen, if Cloud really wanted a job here.

"Come on, Axel," said Sora, stepping forward to turn Axel's chair around. "You can't really discriminate against a guy just because he used to date my brother, can you? What if you're wrong and Cloud really does want to work here? What if he came back to Traverse Town because it's where all his friends are and he just actually needs a job? He and Squall won't even be working in the same part of the hotel! He at least deserves to have his interview."

Axel glared at him.

Sora turned his puppy dog eyes up to full force. "You could even sit in on it with Aerith! She's got history with him, so she's biased anyway. And you're a paranoid asshole, so you're biased in the other direction. Between the two of you, he'll get a fair shot at the job."

Axel now glared at Aerith.

"Please," she said, her voice tight. "He really does need this job and this will go a lot smoother than having Leon sit in on it with me."

Axel rolled his eyes and batted Sora's hands away so he could start shutting down his computer. Sora grinned at Aerith, who smiled back and mouthed thank you before closing down herself. His work here done for the moment, he propped the door open and returned to the desk, spying Cloud slouching in one of the couches by the door.

"She's coming right now," Sora called, unable to help the way his smile brightened at the sight of Cloud sitting there. "And Cloud? Good luck."

* * *

Sora fell into his textbook face-first, a low whine escaping his throat. He felt like he was dying or like he had already died and gone to hell where they were forcing him to experience the feeling of dying over and over again.

"Stop being such a drama queen, ya?" said Wakka, grabbing a fistful of Sora's hair and yanking his head back up painfully. "We almost done."

The library was such a stifling, oppressive place to Sora. Whenever he studied, he always wanted to do it at the house. The house was warm and cozy and full of love. The library was cold and quiet and reeked of knowledge. Sora felt tired just thinking about how many books were in there, how many students had gone crazy during exams here, how many hookups had gone down between those shelves. The latter thing he was frequently forced to think about because Tidus and Wakka were both on the blizball team and thus very, very popular with the ladies. Though, in Wakka's defense, any library trysts he had were always with the same woman.

"So, do we want to go over who's doing which part of the powerpoint again or should we break for snacks?" Tidus asked with a wide yawn, stretching his arms all the way up over his head. "Personally, I'm in favor of snacks. I'm starving."

"Me too," said Wakka, tilting his chair back and rubbing his stomach. "I could definitely go for some grub."

"Me three," said Sora, flipping his textbook shut. Really, he just wanted to close his textbook, but if he got food out of it, who was he to complain? "The café is probably still open."

Tidus made a face. "That's all the way in First District though. Why don't we just go to the student union and grab something?"

"Because their food tastes like shit," said Wakka, kicking the leg of Tidus' chair. "And quit showing off the fact that you're the only one of us with a meal plan."

"I don't mind running to the café and back to get us something. I could probably use the fresh air, anyway."

Sora got up, grabbing his bag but leaving his books and his coat. It was still warm enough that he wouldn't need the coat and the last thing he needed was to get back in an hour and find that Tidus and Wakka had given his seat to a cute co-ed.

The half-hour walk back to First District would have gone by a lot faster if Sora had taken the shortcut through the back streets, but he didn't mind. Fourth District was alive with the lights from the Coliseum, nestled in the heart of the university campus like a shining beacon of light. The Victorian buildings full of students enjoying their four years away from their parents were lit up too, seeming to twinkle at Sora as he passed them by. He looked up at the stars, wondering if his own parents were watching and were happy with how Squall had raised him. He didn't remember them nearly as well as Squall did, but he wasn't sure there was anyone who could have done a better job with him than Squall had. He hoped they were proud of him. He hoped they were proud of both of them.

By the time he made it to Cid's, his feet were starting to hurt and he had already resolved to take the shortcut back. Cid's was unusually packed for a weekday, so many people crammed around the tables that half the crowd had to stand for lack of somewhere to sit. Sora carefully circumnavigated the crowd, his eyes peeled for some sort of sign or poster that would alert him to some event going on to explain the sudden rise in patronage.

Someone crashed into him, nearly sending him flying, but then the back of his shirt was grabbed in a firm grip that yanked him back onto his feet. That could only be one person.

"Tifa!" Sora said brightly, turning to face her and wrapping her in a hug. She was carrying a tray in each hand, but the glasses on them never even wobbled as she hugged him back with her elbows.

"Hey, you," she kissed the top of his head as they separated, nudging him with her hip. "Long time no see. What, you think you're better than us now that you're an upperclassman?"

"Aw, you haven't outgrown us, have you Sora?" said a new voice, somehow despondent and gleeful all at once. Yuffie appeared at Tifa's shoulder, her brows drawn together and her lips in an exaggerated pout. "Can it ever be like what it was?"

"You were just eating us out of house and home last week!" Sora reached out to swat her, laughing as she easily blocked his every blow and then caught his flailing wrists in one hand. "And, anyway, maybe you should visit Squall a little less and me a little more, huh?"

Yuffie giggled as she let him go, plucking one of the trays out of Tifa's hands and weaving through the crowd to deposit them at one of the tables. Tifa had a twinkle in her eye that let Sora know she already knew without him having to say anything. He grabbed her elbow and tugged her toward the bar.

"What's Cloud doing back in town?" he whispered even though there was no way anyone could hear him over all this noise. "Is he—Did he come back for Squall?"

Tifa laughed. "Oh, honey. Cloud will probably always have feelings for your brother, but if he's interviewing at the hotel then he's got absolutely no other prospects here. He's been back for a week now and I know he had an interview with Cid right when he arrived that didn't go anywhere. He wouldn't tell me how his interview at the Oathkeeper went, but he didn't seem any more melancholy than usual."

"Squall must not have seen him yet," said Sora with a sigh. He knew, he knew, that the moment Squall heard that Cloud was applying for a job at the hotel, then Cloud's chances were in serious jeopardy. And Cloud couldn't get hired without Squall's approval. "It's just… I've really missed him. He never called."

All the laughter faded from Tifa's face. She set the tray down on the bar to give Sora a proper hug, his face pressed against her neck in a way that was very soothing.

"He asked about you. Both of you. He just didn't…" She rubbed his back, weighing her words. "He just wouldn't have known what to say. At the time, he didn't think he would ever come back here."

"Then why is he back?"

Tifa didn't answer and Sora didn't push.

He disentangled himself from her and handed her back her tray, smiling at her until she wandered off to work. Sora considered saying a quick hello to Cid, but decided he had wasted more than enough time already and just left.

The café next door was much smaller and much less busy, only two or three people milling about at the tables, each wrapped in their own world. Sora got three takeout meals, two waters and a soda (Tidus and Wakka both weaned themselves off soda during game season), and was trying to wiggle his wallet out of his pocket when one of the meals slipped off the top of the pile and almost hit the floor.

Almost because someone had caught it just in time.

"Careful," said Riku Masamune, placing the takeout box safely on top of the others and then relieving Sora of the whole pile. He blinked once, then tilted his head as though surprised. "Aren't you the kid from the hotel?"

Sora, who was outright gaping at him, tried to close his mouth.

"Um, yeah, hi," he said, ducking his head and shelling out the munny required for the meal. He tucked his wallet back in his pocket and reached over to take the boxes back. "Thanks for your help, but I've got it."

"Where are you going?" Riku evaded his hands far too easily. "I can help you carry all this stuff, if you want."

"I'm carrying it all the way to Fourth District. It's about a half-hour's walk."

Sora didn't mention the shortcut. If Riku came with him – and, worse, if it got back to Squall that Sora was hanging out with Riku outside of the hotel – he'd have to listen to so many lectures about his naïve and trusting nature that it would just end in a fight. And Sora hated fighting with Squall.

"I don't mind," said Riku with a completely guileless smile. "I've got a whole lot of nothing to do tonight and I'm not really in the greatest hurry to get back to the hotel. No offense."

Sora bit back the urge to ask Riku where he'd been all day and how he'd avoided the crowds. "It's about a half-hour's walk to a university campus and you don't have a student ID."

Riku's smile faded, his expression going so blank so fast that Sora nearly got mood whiplash.

"So I'm starting to get the feeling you don't like me very much," he said in an even tone, although he still made no motion to return Sora's food back to him. "And I don't know why, because you seemed really nice when you were checking me in."

Sora scoffed. "You mean before you told my brother you wanted to buy us out?"

"Your—brother?" Riku looked and sounded genuinely surprised. "Leon Leonhart is your brother?"

"His name's Squall," Sora said instead of answering that really obvious question. "Leon Leonhart is a stupid name."

"See, I wasn't going to say it…"

Sora reached for his boxes again and once again he was easily evaded. There was a smirk playing about Riku's lips now, nothing like his open happiness and easy laughter from earlier. Now he just looked a bit smug and more than a little mischievous.

"You can't honestly be mad at me for a business proposal. A proposal your brother flatly rejected only after he'd let me talk myself in circles for three hours, mind you." Riku shook his head as though profoundly disappointed. "Come on, Sora. How is that good service?"

"I'm off-duty, you jerk." Sora wasn't sure if he was being messed with maliciously or not, but there was a challenge in Riku's tone that he couldn't help but rise to. "I don't have to serve you outside the hotel. Now give me my food back!"

Riku brought a finger to his lips thoughtfully. "So if I asked you to hang out with me while you were on duty, then you'd have to do it?"

"No, because I'm not allowed to leave the desk for dumb things like that."

"Wanting to hang out with you is dumb?"

"Wanting to hang out with people you don't know is dumb."

"I'm pretty sure no one would know anyone if they didn't hang out with them first."

"I'm not going to let you use me to wreck my brother's hotel!"

The last part was said so loudly that even the few people in the café looked up to stare at them. Sora hadn't noticed the volume of his voice getting increasingly louder as they bantered back and forth and now his own words were ringing in his ears, making his face go red under the sudden scrutiny. Riku's face was blank again, though this time Sora didn't think it was from anger. This time, he was pretty sure he'd just shocked Riku into silence.

"You think I'm trying to use you to wreck your brother's hotel," Riku repeated flatly, his eyes narrowing until they were little more than green slits. "How exactly can I use you to wreck your brother's hotel? I didn't even know you were related until today."

"How am I supposed to know? You're the Business major, not me."

Riku snorted. "I majored in Business not Assholes 101. How's your degree in that going, by the way?"

Sora's eyes narrowed, another retort ready on the tip of his tongue before he realized that they were still being stared at by everyone in the tiny café. One girl, he realized, had her phone out and was pointing it at them as discreetly as she could manage. A flush ran up his neck. He lunged forward, grabbing the takeout boxes, and twisted around to avoid Riku's hands on his way to the door.

"Have a good night!" Sora called over his shoulder. "Sir."

And then he ran as fast as his legs could carry him.

* * *

Sora didn't want to go in to work the next day. It took all of his will and energy to even get himself out of bed after his alarm had gone off. Even then, he still spent a considerable amount of time with a pillow over his face wondering how he managed to get himself into such ridiculous situations. It wasn't like front desk agents were supposed to live in a fishbowl. He was under no real obligation to be nice to Riku once his shift was over, especially when Riku was practically harassing him.

And yet he still felt like he'd done something wrong.

No one called him into their office when he got in, however, and no one seemed to be whispering or abruptly stopping conversations when he walked up. Perhaps some of Axel's paranoia had rubbed off on Sora. Maybe the girl in the café had just been checking her messages or something. It took Sora until noon to properly relax, but, when he did, he felt profoundly better.

Of course, he couldn't resist the urge to tell the whole story to Naminé. He'd already combed over the whole thing with Kairi the night before, but Sora wanted to tell Naminé himself instead of letting her hear about it secondhand. After all, she was good at sensing people's moods and she'd be able to tell him exactly how badly he'd pissed Riku Masamune off.

Naturally, Riku didn't bother to show his face in the lobby at all. Sora considered ringing his room again, but he figured one time was a nice gesture and twice in the same week was boarding on stalking. And also overly familiar. He couldn't tell Riku that they weren't going to hang out ever and then start calling him to talk to him about his feelings.

"Hey, Sora," said Cloud as he wandered in. He was dressed in a nicer suit than he had been yesterday, except this time he actually had a jacket instead of just a tailored vest. It even looked like he'd made some effort to get his hair to stay down, but, like Sora's, it had insisted on doing whatever it damn well pleased and fuck anyone who tried to stop it. "I'm here to see Aerith again. And—And Leon."

Sora's hand froze on the phone. "Oh."

When he looked up, Cloud looked about as nervous as he felt. Not overtly, as he was still holding himself with the appearance of one who was cool to the point of indifference, but Sora knew him too well for that. He could see that all of the effort Cloud put into looking just right spoke of his nerves. He could see the way Cloud kept one hand in his pocket that bulged like he had his fingers curled into a fist. He could see the way Cloud's gaze flickered on his as though he knew Sora could see all of those things and was trying to hide it.

"It'll be fine," he heard himself saying. "Aerith says you're the best qualified for the job and my brother can't—My brother won't ignore that. Not if I have anything to say about it."

Cloud blinked, surprised for an instant, before he gave Sora that fond smile again. "You haven't changed at all, have you?"

"Neither has Squall," said Sora, returning it. "Don't let him make you think any different."

Cloud smiled at the ground while Sora made the call down to Squall's office, rolling his eyes at the way his brother's voice seemed tight as he said he'd be right up. He didn't know the exact details of Squall and Cloud's breakup, except that one minute Cloud was around all the time and the next minute Squall was sitting him down to tell him that things hadn't worked out between the two of them. Sora had pretended that he would miss Cloud's awesome breakfast buffets, but really what he missed the most was the way Squall's eyes had lit up whenever Cloud came around. Sora hadn't seen them shine quite the same way since.

"You know what? Naminé, I'm going to take my break now, okay?"

She waved him off without looking up from the napkin she was drawing on. Sora gave Cloud a mischievous smile and then hurried downstairs to check out, stocking up on food from the kitchen, and then hustling to the break room. He set himself up at one of the tables in the corner furthest from the door and waited, chewing idly on a croissant slathered in butter.

He didn't have to wait long. The doors opened and Aerith walked in, followed by Cloud, followed by Squall. Aerith and Cloud were talking with easy familiarity while Squall hung behind them in silence, the look on his face not unlike an angry cat. Sora could practically see a dark cloud raining atop his head, he was so grumpy.

"Sora, get out," Squall near-snarled at him as Aerith and Cloud took a seat around the high bar table. Cloud turned around in surprise, then bit his lip as though trying not to laugh. Aerith just smiled.

"I'm taking a lunch and the employee lounge smells like day-old Indian food," said Sora innocently.

"Then go eat in the back office!"

"There's a rule against eating in the back office."

"Then go eat in the kitchen!"

"There's a rule against that, too."

Squall was glowering murderously at him now, but Sora wasn't afraid. He wasn't the real source of Squall's anger and, anyway, Squall would never seriously get pissed at him. This was confirmed a minute later when Squall released an angry huff and then pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You still do that," said Cloud with fond amusement.

"That's it. Interview's over," Squall said, standing. "Thank you for your—"

"Leon!"

"Squall!"

"Hey, no, it's okay, I get it." Cloud stood as well, ignoring both Aerith and Sora as he stuck his hands in his pockets and lazily rested his gaze on Squall. "It was stupid of me to think Leon would be able to put aside the past for even a second to give me a fair shot at a job he already knows I'll be good at. And it's not really fair for me to be here anyway. We don't really have the kind of connections that people respect when it comes to getting someone a job, do we Squall?"

Squall puffed up like – well, like an angry cat. The analogy was becoming more and more appropriate the longer Sora watched.

"Are you trying to fuck up your chances at getting this job?"

"Who are you kidding? I never had a chance at this job. As soon as you heard I was even in the running, you knew you weren't going to hire me." Cloud didn't sound as angry as Sora would have expected him to be. In fact, he sounded resigned and maybe even a little tired. "I don't know why you didn't just call me and tell me that yourself instead of making me come all the way up here in my one good suit."

"Ms. Gainsborough said I should hear you out," said Squall, his lips pressed into a thin line. "I heard enough."

"You didn't hear shit because you weren't listening, you dumb fuck."

Sora hid a snicker in his croissant. Unsuccessfully, if the sharp look that Squall shot him was any indication.

Cloud ran a hand over his face and sank back into his seat. "Look, I want to move back to Traverse Town. The whys of it are my own business, but I need a job while I'm here. The café's fully staffed, as is the university, and Cid didn't go for my idea of adding food to the bar to pull in more tourists. This is pretty much my last ditch effort to avoid having to go back to Disney Town to pay the bills."

Squall was still eyeing Cloud warily, but he sat back down as well, leaning forward as though hanging on Cloud's every word.

"I'm not going to lie and say I don't still have feelings for you, but not everything's about you, Leon. I want to cook, not get in your pants. If the latter thing ends up happening, I'm not going to complain, but I don't even need to see the list of other applicants to know I'm the best the Oathkeeper could ever get." Cloud leaned back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest. "Now are you going to give me a real interview or are you going to fuck yourself over because you can't let go of the past?"

Sora looked at Squall. Aerith looked at Squall. Squall looked at Cloud, who was already looking at Squall. The moment hung in the air for a breath too long.

Then Squall looked down at the table, uncapping the pen he'd had behind his ears. Aerith was practically beaming as she opened up her folder.

"So tell us why you left your last job, Mr. Strife…"

This time when Squall told Sora to get out, he listened. It would screw up Cloud's chances if Squall saw how wide Sora's smile was.


End file.
